The Instruments opened today with lots of fun fashions including this gorgeous LBD from Tashi. I also used the Tashi nails that are quite horrorific just in time for Halloween.
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Tag Archives: Anypose
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.
Charlotte Bronte, who wrote Jane Eyre, the unforgettable heroine who said those strong, independent and feminist words, was not the first feminist. However, I don’t think it is an accident that the word feminist was coined within five years of her classic novel. I have been thinking about feminism and Jane Eyre lately, and most particularly this, “I am a free human being with an independent will.” The other day, a Washington Post opinion piece focused on how women are expected to surround their ideas and opinions with weak, soothing qualifiers to protect the tender male ego. It imagined famous quotes as said by women complying with the cultural demand that they efface their ideas. It’s funny and painful because it is so true. It is sad that more than 150 years later, a woman saying “I am a free human being with an independent will,” is still revolutionary.
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Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That′s the problem.
A.A. Milne’s wonderfully wistful Winnie the Pooh once said “Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That′s the problem.” I am sure we would be a in a better place if we listened to what the animals are telling us about our environment, but as to not listening…They never had a cat like Oscar. Listening to Oscar is not a choice. There is no not-listening option. You see, with Oscar, if you don’t listen immediately, he just gets louder and louder and louder and he does not stop. He perseveres. This comes up when he decides he wants me to lift up the corner of the quilt on my bed or the lap quilt on the couch so he can crawl under. I know he will not stop, so I am well-trained and immediately hop to it when he begins to meow (Howl is more accurate.) But then sometimes he looks at me like “what are you thinking?” and walks off tail in the air. Ten minutes later, he is back to howling for a blanket lift. After a few cycles, I try to ignore him. It never works. He perseveres.
In the middle ground between light and shadow
When I came across DE.Boutique at The Instruments last month, I liked the designs so much I headed to Marketplace to check for more. This is one I found that I immediately loved for its bold graphic design, its gorgeous and flattering silhouette and I thought the rich colors would be lovely for fall. I am very happy with it.
I have been decorating for fall with an old Barnesworth house. I love that Barnesworth lets us modify and that I can tint because I wanted to make this house more Burtonesque and for me that means bold, saturated colors. I added a “railing” to the porch by using a fence prop from Vespertine and some pumpkins and an autumn planter from Ariskea and some mice-infested pumpkins from PILOT for Collabor88.
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Las Calaveras de Glam Affair
This month’s Collabor88 will open at midnight with an exciting theme centered on the delightfully macabre Burtonesque palette and mood board. I am sure there are some people in the world who do not like Tim Burton’s work, but they are probably unhappy. I headed off to Deadman’s Island, a haunted sim with a beautiful ghost ship. I think Tim Burton would like it a lot.
I think Tim Burton should do a film about las calaveras, the happy, delightful sugar skulls that mark the celebration of All Saint’s Day in Mexico. The Day of the Dead is not Halloween, in many ways it is the opposite of Halloween. After all, Halloween focuses on fear of the dead and the Mexican celebration of el día de los muertos is a welcoming visit with the much beloved dead. Families visit the cemetery and spend the day with their dead, leaving ofrendas (offerings) such as food and wine and the lovely pan de los muertos. They also will place photos and even a soap, mirror and razor so the dead can freshen up for the coming year.
Beautiful Devoré
Baiastice has released a stunning dress with a gorgeous devour skirt. I love how it goes from opaque to sheer and how the hem is cut away to follow the pattern of the stamped print. It comes in gorgeous colors and I was at a loss which one to wear until I decided to wear a hat – and finding the hat made my color choice for me.
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We have a need for enchantment
I am reading The Culture of Make Believe by Derrick Jensen. I think I will have to just buy this book and return the copy I am reading to the library. Like Wendell Berry, Jensen’s book is too rich in subject matter to just read. It will be one I want to go back to again and again. I am reading it slowly, pausing after each conclusion or big idea to think. The underlying theme is that by viewing our world as an object to possess and exploit instead of seeing it as this living, breathing subject whose existence is vital, we become alienated from the world and all sorts of other ills are natural consequences of treating everything as an object to own. The writing is beautiful and powerful and full of ideas that I want to remember. He wrote that ““we have a need for enchantment that is as deep and devoted as our need for food and water.”
I think this is true. Wonder and awe are thinks we yearn for and they are most often found outdoors in the natural world.
There is wonder, too, in Second Life®, at the beautiful worlds and stunning landscapes of our virtual world. It is less powerful, but no less real. There is no fresh, brisk breeze with the restorative power of fresh air, but there is the calm and soothing joy of beauty. Take a walk at The Trace Too and the sights and sounds will entrance you. Now if only they could produce virtual fresh air.
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Color Speaks All Languages
A little over 300 years ago, Joseph Addison wrote, “Colours speak all languages, but words are understood only by such a people or nation.” He was writing about the pleasures of the imagination and arguing that the written word incites the imagination more than imagery. He also suggested that how enthusiastically people respond to the written word is influenced by their capacity for engaging their imagination while reading. I like the idea that color speaks all languages, but it is hooey.
First of all, even within people speaking the same language, men and women see color differently. Women see more shades of color than men and describe the colors differently. Beyond that, colors have cultural values that vary from place to place. There is a very cool interactive chart here. White is the color of mourning in East and of bridal innocence in the West. Red is lucky in China and dangerous in Europe and North America.
However, no matter what the cultural subtext color choices may bring, no one can deny that this gorgeous Ethnic Jacket from Purple Moon will being an entire conversation to your closet.
I paired it with this gorgeous pencil skirt from Maitreya. The skirt details including the black back and the leather detailing make it seem to have been made for this jacket.
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Heartfelt
Sanura Snowpaw made a heartfelt plea for help yesterday, one that was difficult for her to do because most of the time, she is the one answering the pleas of others. It is always hard for the givers to ask for help. But she is not asking for herself, not really, she is asking for her dog Kassie who needs an expensive surgery.
Of course, she is doing her part, too, putting everything in her store Somnia on sale at half price in hopes that folks who like her clothes will come and stock up, taking home twice as much and injecting some much-needed lindens to help take care of her dog. Since she always sells her items with a texture change hud with 8 colors, that is 90 lindens for 8 colors of this sweater and 90 lindens for 8 colors of this skirt. Seriously, even if you do not care about the dog, you should spend, spend, spend just to stock up at half off on wardrobe basics. Since she makes appliers, you can also get all your layering basics too.
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No, you don’t have to do that.
Helen Mirren gave an interview earlier this month that shocked some and made me happy. She said that she wished she had told more people to “fuck off” and it is not the first time. She once said if she had a daughter, that would be one of the first phrases she would want to teach her. As Mirren explained, “Unfortunately, at least for my generation, growing up (we didn’t say that) and I love the fact that girls are so much more confident and outspoken than my generation were. We were sort of brought up to be polite and sometimes politeness, in certain circumstances, is not what’s required, you’ve got to have the courage to stand up for yourself occasionally when it’s needed.”
I think a lot of us need to say those words more often. We often do things we do not want to do out of social expectations and traditions that really require a good fuck off. Of course, sometimes there are obligations and job requirements that just don’t allow us to say that, but then we have Second Life® and if there is any place on the planet where we should be free to do as we please, it should be Second Life.
That’s why I never feel bad about wearing clothes as I please and not just as they come in the folder. Of course, I don’t feel that is really saying “fuck off” to the designer, instead it is just showing that they clothing is more versatile that first envisioned. Of course, in this case, I think wearing this dress differently than pictured in the vendor ad is intentional, otherwise, why would the designer make it so versatile.
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